jersey as early as 5:00 this afternoon right at high tide. we expect historic flooding tonight into tomorrow. >> i'm s.e. cupp. this is ocean city, maryland, the famous fishing pier is half gone according to the governor. in point pleasant, new jersey, pleasant isn't the word to describe the conditions there. >> we're learning of a partial crane collapse in midtown manhattan. tropical storm conditions have moved in with high winds and heavy rain. conditions are going downhill from here. times square, it looks like time is standing still there this afternoon. the normally busy tourist hub is more of a ghost town because sandy is in town. parts of lower manhattan brace for an 11-foot storm surge at high tide tonight. widespread flooding is on a concern on the streets and xwrur underground and prompted a complete shutdown of mass transit.

bloomberg and chris christie is reiterating why it's like nothing we've seen before. >> this is a massive storm. >> when it comes in tonight, we can't come in and rescue you. it's going to be dark, electricity most likely will be out if it's not already. >> i'm krystal ball. it's not just mere in the tri-state area. capitol hill is shut down as washington weathers the storm. president obama is tracking developments from the white house where he spoke this afternoon. >> please listen to what your state and local officials are saying. when they tell you to evacuate, you need to evacuate. do not delay. don't pause. don't question the instructions that are being given, because this is a serious storm and it could potentially have fatal consequences. >> this storm is so massive, so unlike anything we've seen before that parts of the country

like here in west virginia are bracing for blizzard conditions. we begin our breaking coverage with nbc's ron allen. he's along the "jersey shore." ron, describe the conditions where you are right now. >> reporter: it's gotten much worse in the last couple of hours. i'm standing on top of a sand tune about is it 12 feet tall. i have top anchor myself to maintain my position. we're keeping a close eye on the ocean back here, which is about 20 yards away and getting closer by the hour. the waves are as high as 10 to 12 feet it looks like. this dune about 30 yards wide is the last line of defense between the ocean and the town of point pleasant beach, which is this way in front of me. there's a lot of flooding in that town already. it's for the most part evacuated because there are lakes and rivers and an inlet in the sea. all those waters are also rising, and the threat is that

the ocean can connect with those waters to essentially obliterate much of the town. it's the same story for many communities up and down the jersey shore in the path of the stor storm. i gather we're the target and bull's eye at in the point. we're really feeling it here. the rain is going sideways. it's wind yichy. the gusts were up to 30 miles per hour. i'm turning this way because there's sand flying off the dune. i have to keep my back down to it to protect my face. it feels like sleet. the town is evacuated, and we've been out and about to see what's going on. police have been going through the neighborhoods trying to make sure that people have evacuated. we've heard reports of two occasions where they have tried to help elderly -- had to help elderly people out of their homes and into shelters this afternoon yet. everybody hasn't heeded the warnings. yesterday there were people up here on the beach who were taking pictures and gawking at

what is a magnificent sight. mother nature is incredible. today it is extremely dangerous, and again deteriorating very quickly by the hour. >> wow. ron, we were seeing coastal flooding when the storm was still hundreds of miles offshore, so what are emergency officials and residents bracing for when we have a full impact? >> reporter: they're going to be gone from here. they're evacuating from here. in terms of coastal impact, the beach behind me usually is about 100 yards belofore you get to t sea. now it's right here. i keep watching in this direction behind me, because the waves are lapping up on the front of that dune. coming this week, and we're very concerned if it erodes away it would come crashing in this direction. much has been washed out. that fence back there is a storm fence put up. as i understand it, when hurricane irene hit, it came about that far, maybe a little

further out. and with a lot of people at first were hesitant to evacuate because they said irene wasn't that bad. most of the damage of flooding was inland and not here on the coast. as you can see, the coast is just washed away. it's completely gone. as i said, it extends perhaps about 100 yards outs in na direction. the same situation from the north and cape may in the south, down near at alantic city towards the tip of new jersey and the garden state parkway the main highway into that area, which bisects of entire state, has been closed off because they don't want people to go back into that area. it's completely vevacuated, and right now somewhere from here to there is where the storm is expected to hit. we're going to take cover when we have to. we're in a position that's somewhat prekd prekted. it's enough protected we feel safe enough. again, things are deteriorating very quickly by the hour. >> all right.

>> reporter: back to you guys. >> thank you, ron allen. stay safe out there. >> tvandweather.com chases severe weather. dave, what are you seeing down there? >> right now we're right at the entrance of the brooklyn bridge. we're just now starting to get strong gusts, probably some of the strongest we've seen all day. the police are going back and forthright now with sirens and loud announcements saying they're evacuating. we're right on the edge of zone a, which is the area that is under mandatory evacuation. there's still people biking up and down the street, walking along. it seems like people aren't quite sure what to make of this. i don't know if they fully understand what's actually coming here in the next few hours. >> mandatory evacuations went into place last night. i am also a zone a resident. i was evacuated. i did so. are you still seeing a lot of people in the area? you mentioned some people on

bikes. they don't quite know what food? >> reporter: yeah. we were walking down towards battery park from our location at the brooklyn bridge, and there's lots of people standing around taking pictures and lots of police cars around. basically now i hear they're threatening arresting some of the people around here because they're people that refused to leave. we notice that the sea is actually coming up very, very high, and it looks like with just a little bit more push it might start coming over. kind of a dicey situation starting to unfold down here. >> you've chased all kinds of weather, including tornadoes and floods. how does this compare, and what do you expect to be saying when this storm is said and done? >> i've never seen anything like this in my life. this is a hurricane/nor'easter hybrid. it's intensifying. in the last few hours the pressure dropped fairly significantly. and we're expecting all facets of this storm. there's blizzards out in west

virginia. we're getting the surge. we're getting strong winds, hurricane-force winds. i mean, this is just a meteorological buffet, basically. we're just trying to see what's going on with the wind here in lower manhattan, and we have a line to protect us from flying debris. the debris through these straights is crazy once the winds start howling. >> sure. especially down there. wind goes through those building tunnels really quickly. dave holder, thanks so much. >> thank you so much. >> there's no doubt sandy is a monster storm, and right now the team at the weather channel is warning of water levels rising suddenly and rapidly. dylan dryer is here with these concerns and why experts are sounding the alarm. >> they're sounding the alarm because you have this storm out over the water, and the storm if it was sitting still would have this rotation. we have those strong, gusty, northeast winds. on top of that the storm has

picked up in forward speed, so it's pushing all the water towards the shore. not only is it spinning and has its own wind gusts up near 70, 80, 90 miles per hour, but now it's racing towards the coastline at 28 miles per hour. so all of that water is getting pushed onshore. that's why we are going to see rises in those water levels right along the coast, especially around new jersey and into the new york city area. we have high tides to worry about, and those are an issue into tonight. that's when the height of the storm is going to move in. zooming in closer here, new jersey, new york, rhode island, we see the high tides around 8:00 to 8:30 this evening. southern long island 9:30 to 11:00 tonight. we're looking at a 6 to 11 foot storm surge as it races to the west, still a category 1 hurricane but now it's 78 miles to the southeast of atlantic city, new jersey. it will make landfall quickly

into this evening. today at 8:00 tonight we're going to see this transition from a hurricane into this nor'easter hybrid we've been talking about. it's not just a trop cam system. it's a post-tropical system transforming into more of a nor'easter type situation. heavy rain extends all through maryland pushing inland into virginia. the storm is still very far away. we will see all that heavy rain become an issue. virginia beach has picked up almost nine inches of rain, and the storm is hundreds of miles to the east. look at the rainfall we are expecting. we expect 8 to 10, 11, maybe 12 inches of rainfall. inland flooding is a concern. on top of that we have winds gusting across the eastern seaboard now up into southern new england up to 50 to almost 60 miles per hour. we've been seeing those gusts for several hours now as well. so not only are we talking about the wind and the rain and the storm surge out of this system, we're also talking about snow as

it takes on that transformation between just a hurricane over to a nor'easter, we are seeing mountain snow all across west virginia. there's a good chance we will end up with more than a foot of snow in that region. we've already picked up 7 inches of snow. we have the coastal flooding and inland flooding, strong gusty winds, severe power outages are an issue and mountain snow. we have it all wrapped up into this very unusual storm. >> thank you, dylan. back to that breaking news in midtown han hat tan where tears a partial crane collapse at a building under construction not far from here. it's a 90-story building near carnegie hall. we'll keep an eye on that story as ait develops. we'll follow it all this mour with live updates and streaming video. up next, politics and weather collide earlier kornacki

predicted romney would continue to campaign. pe learned romney will not exam pain for the next two days. steve is always right on "the cycle." just like ann peoples he can't state out of the rain. ♪ against my window ♪ because he's not here with me ♪ who wondered why her soup wasn't quite the same. the recipe's not the recipe... ohhh. [ female announcer ] ...without swanson. the broth cooks trust most when making soup. mmmm! [ female announcer ] the secret is swanson.

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it came saturday online and sunday in the print edition under the headline, romney offers a fresh economic vision. the paper's editorial board writes, quote, voters should give mitt romney a chance to correct the nation's fiscal course and to implode the partisan gridlock that shackled washington and the rest of the america with want understanding he would face the aim assessment in four years if he does not succeed. pundits debate the value of these endorsement, so why does in matter? iowa's six electoral votes could decide who sits in the oval office january 20th. right now the president has a slim two-point lead if you average the recent state polls and the register's endorsement could give romney the boost he needs. it validates romney there, not to mention this is the time the register endorsed a republican in 40 years, the last one was richard nixon in 1972. we know how it turned out.

mitt romney is heading to dann port this evening. the president is sending the first lady there today and joe biden on thursday. i want to put up a quote from my friend rory cooper who said "the des moines register" enl dorised carter, mondale, gore and couldn't endorse another four years of obama. wow. you see folks on the left dismissing the value of this. on the right they'll make a big deal about it. i came upon a fun study from 2008. brown university economists found that when moderate papers endorse they're seen as mort credible. when a partisan paper does it, not so much. when the chicago sun times and "denver post" endorsed kerry and bush, the study found 3% of readers switched voting allegiance. they flipped their allegiances in 2000.

i have to say, i think an interesting number that matters is when you compare the endorsement numbers, obama has 34 endorsement from major, significant papers. romney has 27. look at the circulation of those endorsements. obama's total just over 9 million readers. >> 27? >> and mitt romney is at 27 and not 7. his total circulation just under 5 million. so i don't know that this is a scientific reading of those numbers, but you have to imagine 9 million readers reading obama endorsement, 5 million readers reading romney. i have to imagine that ends up as a net plus for obama somewhere down the line. let's just quickly ask "des moines register" political columnist kathy obradovich who might shed light on this. what kind of influence is this for iowa voters? >> well, i have to tell you, i think that the influence of an

endorsement at this stage of the game is pretty limited in iowa just because i think there are very few voters left in iowa who have not made up their minds. now, having said that, however, this endorsement was news around the country. it was endorsed -- it was -- i've got international reporters calling us to talk about the endorsement. i'm not on the editorial board and wasn't part of the endorsement. i don't make endorsements of my own. i believe that because this endorsement was a surprise, a. as you said, the register has a long history of endorsing democrats it got more attention than it would have otherwise and maybe influenced people beyond the borders of iowa. >> to kathy's point there, in terms of the reach of this endorsement, it also comes a bit late in the game. only eight days until election day, and in iowa specifically about 30% of the votes cast in 2008 have already been cast in this election. so not only are a lot of voters already decided, a lot of voters

have cast their ballots. the conversation democrat naturing the national political dialogue is the state of the economy and we're slow in recovering. in iowa things are pretty good. 5.2% unemployment rate, so i'm wonderi wondering, are people in iowa feeling more like unemployment is at 5% or more like unemployment is at 7.8%? >> i think that depends on who you ask and when you and. if you talk about -- it's interesting to watch republicans, for example, in charge of the state, republican governor, for example. simultaneously touting the fact that the economy is on the move under his administration, and yet, you know, making the point that nationally the economy is still in bad shape. i think that iowa voters have been pretty clear that they feel better about the way things are going until the state than about

the nation. you know, obviously, we're all paying attention to the national news, you know, here today in iowa. everyone is hanging on the news about hurricane sandy and what's happening to our friends on the east coast. so, you know, people do pay attention to the national and not just what's going on in their own neighborhood. >> what jumped out at me about this endorsement if you read the register's endorsement offal romney, they're giving him -- they are really giving him the benefit of the doubt. what they conclude in this is, yeah, he presented himself as a very conservative figure and he's running on a conservative platform, but they decided the romney who would become president would be the moderate mitt romney in massachusetts. they don't explain how or why that is. i find that to be -- i find that to be very unbelievable. i think the most important way of understanding how any president will conduct him or herself is what their party label is. we know what the national republican party believes in and bha the priorities are, and if

he goes against that any way there's a revolt in the party and the presidency is cripple pelled. kathy, my question is what the register is saying there is exactly what the romney campaign wants swing voters to think. he's going to be a moderate, independent figure as president, and i wonder how widespread do you think that view is among swing votes in iowa? do they buy the romney the register is now selling? >> we will have a better idea come it weekend when "the des moines register's" last iowa poll of the campaign comes out. by the way, it will be online saturday night in the register on sunday. a lot of people are watching this poll. you know, we are, of course, asking people what their priorities are. up until now the economy has trumped everything else. all social issues, et cetera. you know, i don't necessarily think that voters are that one-dimensional. i think they look the economy

and jobs and look at their top concerns. you know, if they have any optimism at all or any faith in their candidate, they're going to have to think beyond the immediate economic issues p what else are they go to do in their presidency. i think that people have a more multi-dimensional view of the cap pain. >> let's talk media studies for a second. up until toepd everybody was talking about the election, the election, the election. now we're talking about sandy, sandy, and talking about iowa, which is not going to feel the brunt of the hurricane but you you pay attention to what's happening on the east coast. what do you think about the idea the storm was come and friesen the medium, momentum of talking about it thus freezing the campaign at a moment when the romney's campaign's story was we're having momentum that might overtake the president. any momentum that is true, it's frozen. it's not moving forward anymore. what do you think about that as a media watcher? well, i don't think that the

campaign is frozen in iowa, at least not this week, in the sense we just had michelle obama here. we have mitt romney in iowa this afternoon. joe biden will be here later in the week, if he doesn't change his plans. so the campaign is still going on. i do think this will town down the sharpness. rhetoric and francly it the wouldn't be a bad idea to have people take a breath and focus on something that is really happening out in the world for a change. i think people are getting a little bit too wrapped up in the intensity of the came pain at in the point. this situation on the east coast is an opportunity to put things in perspective. >> aamen to that. kathy, thanks for joining us. up next, the president canceled his stops today to focus on the storm, but romney still campaigned. the buckeye state is our state of the day in "the spin cycle." keep it right here on "the cycle."

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pulling your political signs from the front yard because a hurricane is coming. with all eyes on the east coast because of sandy, other states get extra political attention, namely one that hasn't gotten enough attention this election cycle called ohio. it's right in the middle there with 18 electoral votes. it's the battleground state we're focusing on today because everybody is focusing on ohio every single day. i feel like the middle child. when do you pay attention to me, because these candidates are running for the president of ohio. they're both staying out of sta san sandy's way today. he spent bill clinton and joe biden there instead. romney has canceled tomorrow's events in ohio, but he hit avon lake earlier today. >> people of the entire nation are counting on ohio, because my

guess is that if ohio votes me in as president, i'll be the next president of the united states. >> since the conventions romney has held 27 events in ohio over 12 days. i sent ryan there for 19 events and the president has been there seven times for 10 events. no republican has ever won the white house without ohio, no democrat has done it since jfk. ohio is an important state. when we talk about the state we haven't discussed in this table is the importance of a ground game. the having field offices throughout a state and the things that they can do getting people to the polls and getting information about the candidates. obama's lead in the ground game is massive. obama has 800 field offices throughout the nation, romney only has 300. in ohio the difference is massive, 137-39. this continues throughout the states. you see ohio, florida, colorado.

obama's lead is massive. obama built the largest grassroots organization that politics saw in '08 and after he won he continued to build it. this can make a difference of two points and in a close race like this it can make all the difference in '08. it gave obama some already. that's not the situation in this case. people that have been to the ground offices say the obama offices are all about obamament the romney offices are rnc offices and not always all about romney. that leads a conservative like joe scarborough to worry about what's happening that the obama offices are building this unparalleled turnout machine and the great irony that scarborough writes for the romney camp is their candidate drirch by data and numbers his entire life is relying on the most unpredi unpredictable force of all, human emotion, to pull him over the top. i don't understand why romney and the gop have allowed this to happen? >> if it were just about having

offices, obama would be in a clear lead in states like florida he's not. i think i completely agree with you in the case of ohio, that my sense of ohio have been been there a couple times over the year in various towns and cities is that they don't think obama's done a particularly good job, but they're very skeptical of romney. so i think it's going to come down to party politics. democrats voting for democrats and republicans voting for republicans. in that case ground game is crucial. i think you're right in ohio ground game is going to favor obama. i think the only silver lining is that in 2008 obama won 22 of ohio's 88 counties making it clear that the population battle over the cities is really what's important. so having the political offices all over the state might not actually be the determining factor, but i think -- look, i'll be honest. i have ohio going blue in my electoral map. >> look, it's creditical to oba

and the campaign they win this ground game. you see evidence in the polls of republicans on the whole are more motivated to throw out barack obama than democrats on the whole are to re-elect him. that doesn't mean there aren't lots of motivated democrats out there. they yell at me on twitter. you get over 90% from republicans a lot. it's not that high from democrats. you know what makes me think of micha michael dukakis? everything. ohio in particular. something interesting in ohio and to understand you have to think p about the dukakis lae election in 1988. this was a 40-state landslide for george bush sr. in 1988. in the middle of the country, the sea of red that went blue,

iowa, minnesota and wisconsin. there were local factors in the upper midwest. the farm economy collapsed in the mid-1980s and raeagan's standing was lower than it was elsewhere. republicans were push punished there for the state of economy. think about the auto bailout and the lower unemployment rate there, and i think there is a reward for obama for the sense among those voters that things are getting a little better here than maybe they otherwise would be. >> in a state that feels like it has not been than the country economically for a while, and you cannot understate how important the auto bailout political dynamic has been there. last week after she squabbled over exactly what romney said about the bailout in his op-ed, that was the most viewed "new york times" op-ed. the romney campaign is trying to project strength in ohio.

john kasich came out and said romney will win ohio, but the tactics really speak and are telling a different story. they released an ad that is highly misleading. i'd love to play just that install clip of thatted. >> mitt romney has a plan to help the auto industry. he is supported by lee iacocca and the troy news. obama took gm and chrysler to bankruptcy and sold chrysler to italens that will make jeeps in china. >> chrysler is not moving production to china. in fact, they are expanding u.s. production, and the fact they are going to sell jeeps in china is a signal that they have been tremendously successful. >> what did the italians ever do? leave me out of this. >> i'm struggling to see what exactly in that ad was true. >> it's a very desperate tactic where they're trying to do anything to change the game at this point.

>> wow. straight ahead, back to the storm. live reports from out in the field, and the latest on when and where this is going to get bad. from the experts at the weather channel. ♪ i'd like to thank eating right, whole grain, multigrain cheerios! mom, are those my jeans? [ female announcer ] people who choose more whole grain tend to weigh less than those who don't. multigrain cheerios

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everything is on one page. i'm watching you. oh yeah? well i'm watching you, watching him. [ male announcer ] try the e-trade 360 investing dashboard. just to show you sandy's strength already. these are live pictures of that partial crane collapse in midtown manhattan. that's at a 90-story building under construction near carnegie hall. the area around it is evacuated as we speak. city officials say there's no plans right now to try to remove the collapsed crane because that's too dangerous. one of the most travel would bridges in the northeast will be shut down to traffic as of 4 being this afternoon due to high winds. we'll keep an eye on both stories as they develop. sandy continues to cause problems for millions of americans. the monster storm is off the east coast. landfall is expected in southern new jersey sometime tonight. tens of millions of americans are already feeling sandy's

impact. one of the hardest-hit areas is the in delaware. tom, what's happening right now where you are? >> reporter: take a look at the atlantic ocean right now. it's stirred up pretty well, and this is low tide, guys. this has been happening all day n. a matter of a few hours, this entire area will be inundated with those waves because high tide will occur around 8:00. that con insides with the time of the storm's more fee row shus impact. look what it did to the fence around this area as well. we imagined by 9:00 this time there's a lot of wave action lapping onto the boardwalk. right now this area has been cleared out. it was under a mandatory evacuation order. roughly 50,000 residents have been ordered out of this area. so far we checked with the state of delaware. they're reporting roughly 2,000 residents are now without power, and this is why the governor

ordered the mandatory evacuation order because of the coastal flooding and high wind advisory in effect right now. this is not the place you want to be as the storm makes landfall. a at this time we're still monitoring what's happening. around 8:00 tonight when high tide comes into play, this is a very messy area. we anticipate that a lot of sand, a lot of these areas here will be moved forward onto the boardwalk. the governor will hold a 4:30 press conference and we hope to learn more details about the response and how many more residents might be without power. this is going fob a miserable night. if you haven't gotten out, this is the time to hunker down and stay indoors and stay safe. back to you. >> thanks very much. >> a hurricane along the east coast, a blizzard warning in west virginia where the snow is already falling. parts of my home state of virginia could be affected. storm chaser and meteorologist reed timer was stuck in oklahoma but couldn't be kept away from sandy. he got in his car and racing

towards west virginia and maryland for the blizzard. reed, normally when you think hurricane, you don't think snow. what's going on here? >> this is a very unusual system, and basically it's a hurricane that's merging with ab upper level trough and the polar jet stream. there's a lot of cold air behind the system. i've never seen anything like this where you have a tropical storm tropical cyclone snacking into cold air here. this is 70-mile-per-hour winds on top of it. >> reed, thanks so much. >> now let's turn to the track of sandy and what we can expect next. dr. greg postle is on top of it for the weather channel. >> sandy is closing in right now on the south jersey coast. it's about 50 miles offshore right about there. there's the coast of new jersey. it's moving towards cape may in an hour and a half. the center will be onshore close

to 5:00 eastern. don't focus so much on the center. there are strong winds around it, but they extend out over an incredibly broad area. boston has wind gusts of 50 to 60 miles per hour with this system. sustained wind at 37 and gusts at 50. atlantic city is gusting to 55. that will likely go up and they will have hurricane force gusts in the next hour and a half. watch what happens when we move northeastern from there. new york city gusting to 55 as well. just as strong as it is in atlantic city, and boston gusts at 54. the fastest wind report was on plum island on suffolk county, new york. that had a wind gust of 81 miles per hour. very strong winds extend over an incredibly large area, and this storm is already giving water rises in new york city, battery park, 5.6 feet. just for a perspective historical sense, we had our water rise with irene at 4.4

feet. this is already a foot higher, and it will get a lot higher, too. once that center moves inland, we will start to see a southerly wind and bring more water up into this region. so once -- just because the center has come onshore doesn't mean it's over. we have a lot of onshore flow on long island and jersey coast. 4 to 8 feet on the coast, long island sound, 6 to 11 feet, that includes places around that. farther to the northeast, 3 to 6 feet and 2 to 4 feet farther north along the coast of massachusetts. this is unincredible storm many of us have he never seen the likes of. back to you, guys. >> sandy is already having an impact on the presidential race. early voting has been canceled in some places. the president and mitt romney are off the stump. which candidate could benefit from the storm? why i say maryland is a good example why mother nature might matter next tuesday. that's next. [ male announcer ] humana and walmart have teamed up

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syou know, i've helped a lot off people save a lot of money. but today...( sfx: loud noise of large metal object hitting the ground) things have been a little strange. (sfx: sound of piano smashing) roadrunner: meep meep. meep meep? (sfx: loud thud sound) what a strange place. geico®. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. i'm not worried at in point about the impact on the election. i'm worried about the impact on families and i'm worried about the impact on our first responders. i'm worried about the impact on our economy and on transportation. the election will take care of itself next week. right now our number one priority is to make sure that we are saving lives. >> president obama there telling america what his priority is

today. as the superstorm begins to impact the east coast with 90-mile-per-hour winds and heavy downpour, like it or not, sandy has an impact on this campaign already. president obama and governor romney have both canceled more than a dozen events in key swing states over the next several days. maryland and the nation's capital heavily democratic areas canceled early voting for today. a decision on tomorrow will be made depending on how bad this storm gets. some virginia counties have suspended in-person absentee voting, and the labor department announced the final jobs report before the election could be delayed. the october numbers are scheduled to come out friday. the bigger picture here, in a race this close we know turnout is key for both candidates. if folks don't have power and worried about their home, some worry getting to the pols won't be a top priority. who stands to gain the most from this tough situation? let's go to the table, and look, i've seen a bunch of stuff out today, the political science research which i'm very skeptical of.

i would say for an incumbent president you have to do something. there's a lot of risk. there's a lot of potential for making a mistake. on a more simplistic level, i don't think if you're an incumbent you want people cranky when they go to the polls. it's not deep analysis, but it could be important. counterbalancing that, when people want the government to actually do something and do it well, they are much more likely to trust democrats in that circumstance. >> sure. >> the overall impact of the storm on the election is un unknowable. obama looks leader-like and presidential in the situation. he's part of the narrative of the storm, but then you pointed out, we're damaging early voting which is critical to the president's strategy. it becomes this situation like the president gets to look like a calm, strong leader in a crisis. that's the way some people read it. other people say the storm is obama's faumt and it proves he's

weak. whatever way i see it, you see it that way. >> one problem for each the candidates jumps out at me. take obama. you alluded to early voting right there. there's this lag obama is doing pretty well in the swing states, but in the national horse race he's as best tied with romney and at worst he's down a point. it raises the possibility of that split verdict. you lose the popular vote and win the electoral college. the reason for that as i outlined last week is he is lagging particularly in the blue states, in the northeast, in the states that are being hit by this. it's not he's going to lose these states. he's not going to lose, connecticut, new jersey, massachusetts, but his falloff is pronounced with democrats in those states. if early voting is sus ppended maryland, it's the mobilization the obama campaign is relying on. if that's going to be difficult to do in these blue states, it

could potentially worsen that blue state problem. the one for romney that jumps out at me, he's behind in these swing states. so the question is he needs something over the last week that's going to make him jump two points or three points in ohio or wisconsin or iowa, one of those states. i'm wondering, he had to suspend his campaign today. i don't know when he can restart it. i don't know if anyone is going to be paying attention to the campaign so i don't know what he can do on his own in the next week to make that jump in those states. i don't think he had a choice. you look at the grief he would have taken if he decided to keep campaigning through this. he would look horrible. i don't usually like to call out my fellow journalists, but there's one person who was on earlier today who was making a baffling case about what romney should do. let's play a clip of that. >> if he just says you know, i'm going to suspend my campaign not going to be campaigning during this, then he basically lets obama take the stage as the commander in chief for the next few days and romney disappears. there's probably some risk in looking too political and all of that i don't really think he has

a choice. >> it's worth noting we got a an update that team romney released a statement on scheduling. she writes, out of sensitivity for the millions of americans in the path of the hurricane, we are canceling tonight's events with governor romney in wisconsin and congressman ryan in melbourne and leakland, florida. they are canceling all events for governor romney and congressman ryan. >> every pundit's nightmare. >> i think alex cut me off before i was about to make a crucial -- no. >> it happens. >> you have a sense of humor about it. >> i am really loath to talk about the politics of the storm. i want to congratulate all of my co-hosts for not devolving into these crazy connections unlike someone i won't name at foreign policy magazine. a magazine, i love. i'm a subscriber, but the story today, meet sandy, the game changer, first of all dock a point for that trite expression.

two, to begin with sandy will do more to draw attention to issues of climate change than all the candidates running for every office in the united states during this election cycle have done. i think that's blowing this a bit out of proportion to think that, a, this is going to bring us to a huge conversation about climate change and that that conversation would then really affect the election on tuesday. just seems silly. i think people are going to keep their eye on the ball here. >> back to that breaking news out of midtown manhattan. this is video just in. the view from the ground of that partial crane collapse. the area around it is being evacuated. it happened at a 90-story building under construction at 57th street near carnegie hall. city officials say there are no plans right now to try to remove the collapsed crane because that would just be too dangerous. and in less than ten minutes at 4:00 p.m., one of the most traveled bridges in the northeast, the tappan zee, will be shut down to traffic due to

high winds. for continuing coverage of sandy keep it here on "the cycle" and msnbc. well, i'll admit it. i was skeptical at first. but after awhile even my girlfriend noticed a difference. [ male announcer ] rogaine is proven to help stop hair loss. and for 85% of guys, it regrew hair. save up to 42% now at rogaine.com.

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an entirely new pursuit.

my first sense that this was going to be an unusual storm came on saturday when my wife went to whole foods to stock up and saw what she termed a madhouse. she said there was a frenetic vibe and people fighting in the checkout line trying to protect their spot as if the storm might suddenly close. sounds like jostling to get on the airplane out of vietnam. i saw a large fleet. con ed trucks.

the east river under lating furiously and the trees fansinger in justly. the cities from utilities to nature is preparing for a beat down from mother nature. i didn't know how bad it might be until i was told to bring overnight clothes because there's going to be a cycle slumber party because we're not going to be able to get home or back here. krystal said let's tell scary stories. i said, great, i'll talk about voter suppression. steve said he'll tell us about romney's time as governor of massachusetts. s.e. is going to talk about benghazi. krystal is going to talk about paul ryan. when people in real america call new york a godless place, there's plenty of religion here. but we're less directed by spirituality because in the past we have little history of our days being shaped by acts of god. someone once told me part of my the bible belt is spiritually minded is they have a farming

tradition and acts of god have a direct impact on their lives. new york isn't like that but we have gained considerable experience over the past 11 years on how to pull together after tragedy. so there will be families without power and homes damaged by trees and we will help each other out and dig out and move on because that's what family does. anyone who thinks new yorkers aren't a community that looks at itself as a family doesn't know new york. sure we might toss a few elbows in line at whole foods, but what family doesn't fight sometimes? family is supposed to fight, and then come together in crisis and that's what we'll do in the face of sandy. all right. that does it for "the cycle." my brother, martin, it's yours. >> thank you. good afternoon. it's monday, october the 29th, and sandy is due to make landfall in just hours. america bunkers down from the storm. >> this is going to be a big and powerful storm. >> it's a very